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"I'm sorry," she said finally, her voice small."For what happened to you?For assuming—"

"Don't."Kaine cut her off, but gently."You had reason to be cautious."

Thalia opened her mouth to respond, but the scrape of boots on ice interrupted her.A figure materialized from the morning fog, striding toward them with purposeful steps.Senna.Her silver-gray eyes narrowed as she took in the scene — Kaine and Thalia standing close, deep in conversation.

"There you are," Senna called to Kaine, her voice carrying across the plateau with knife-edge precision.She pointedly ignored Thalia's presence."I've been looking everywhere."

Kaine's posture shifted subtly, a new tension entering his shoulders."What is it, Senna?"

She drew up beside them, her long black braid whipping in the wind.Her pale face was flushed with either cold or emotion — perhaps both."There's been an incident."

"What kind of incident?"Thalia asked, unwilling to be excluded from the conversation.

Senna's gaze flicked to her, dismissive and cold."Supplies have gone missing from the food storage.Critical provisions that were meant to last us until the supply routes reopen."

"Missing?"Kaine frowned."Could they have been misplaced in the chaos after the storm?"

"Misplaced?"Senna's laugh was sharp as broken glass."No.Three crates of preserved meat, a barrel of honey, and nearly half our medicinal herbs — all vanished overnight.This was deliberate."

Thalia's herbalist instincts flared at the mention of the missing medicines.Those were precisely the supplies she'd been using to help the sick students during the shortage.Without them..."Who would do such a thing?And why?"

Senna's lip curled."Isn't it obvious?Most suspect the Southern weaklings."Her gaze locked on Thalia, the accusation clear in her eyes."One of you, or perhaps all of you working together."

Heat rushed to Thalia's face."That's absurd.Why would we sabotage supplies we all depend on?"

"To hoard them for yourselves, of course."Senna's tone dripped with condescension."Everyone knows Southerners lack the discipline to endure hardship.You'd rather steal than suffer like the rest of us."

"That's enough, Senna," Kaine warned, his voice low.

But Senna wasn't finished.She stepped closer to Thalia, her breath fogging the air between them."Children of the North are built stronger, more capable of surviving the lean times than you spoiled, soft Southerners.We endure.You scheme."

Fury rose in Thalia's chest, hot and sudden as a forge fire.She thought of her mother working endless hours in their tiny herb shop, of going to bed hungry so that Mari could have the last crust of bread, of volunteering for Frostforge to save her sister from the same fate.She thought of Luna, hiding her intelligence behind a vapid mask to survive.Of other Southern students struggling against the sabotage they'd uncovered.

She wanted to scream the truth in Senna's perfect, sneering face.But she recognized the trap Senna was laying — provoke an emotional outburst, make Thalia look unstable and guilty in front of Kaine.A few months ago, Thalia might have taken the bait.But Frostforge had taught her, if nothing else, when to hold her fire.

"If you'll excuse me," Thalia said, her voice calm despite the rage churning inside her, "I should get back before breakfast.I'm sure Instructor Maven will address this situation with all of us."

She turned away without waiting for a response, feeling Senna's glare like a blade between her shoulder blades.Behind her, she heard Kaine begin to say something to Senna, his tone sharp, but the wind carried his words away.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Thalia's footsteps echoed against the stone walls as she made her way to the infirmary.The corridor was colder than usual, the enchanted torches that typically lined the hallway reduced to every third sconce — another sign of the academy's dwindling resources.She pulled her cloak tighter around her shoulders, her breath visible in small, cloudy puffs.Even after months at Frostforge, she hadn't fully acclimated to the bitter chill that seeped through the ancient stone walls, a cold that seemed to be growing more severe as supplies ran low and tensions between students ran high.

As she approached the infirmary's heavy oak door, she heard raised voices from within.Thalia slowed her pace, hesitating just outside.She hadn't meant to eavesdrop, but the argument carried clearly through the door left ajar.

"We have no choice.These are our last stores of alpine feverfew.If we use it all on minor injuries, we'll have nothing when the serious cases come in."The voice was sharp, clinical — Thalia recognized it as belonging to the head healer, Erith, a stern Northern woman with silver-streaked hair and eyes like chips of winter sky.

"And what exactly constitutes 'serious' anymore?"The second voice trembled with barely contained frustration."That Southern boy yesterday could barely breathe with that lung infection.Are we supposed to wait until students are at death's door before we help them?"

"The Isle Warden blockade shows no signs of lifting.Until it does, we ration everything — especially medicinals that can't be substituted.Those are Maven's orders."

Thalia pressed herself against the wall, mind racing.The herb shortages were worse than she'd thought.In her first weeks at Frostforge, the infirmary had been stocked with rows of glass jars filled with dried herbs, tinctures, and salves — nowhere near the variety her mother kept in their small shop in Verdant Port, but adequate for treating training injuries and seasonal illnesses.Now, it seemed, those supplies had dwindled to almost nothing.

She straightened her shoulders and pushed the door open.The argument ceased immediately as both healers turned to look at her, their faces composed into professional masks so quickly it was as if the heated exchange had never happened.

"Can we help you, recruit?"Healer Erith asked, her tone clipped.

"I was just delivering some alpine mint I gathered yesterday," Thalia said, holding up a burlap pouch containing the herbs.Erith’s gaze softened.